Referenten

Donald Reinertsen, USA

Beschreibung

Initial attempts to apply lean methods in product development simply copied behaviors that worked in manufacturing. This doesn’t work — development is a profoundly different domain. Eliminating all variability works in manufacturing; in product development it eliminates all innovation. Second Generation Lean Product Development takes a different, science-based, approach. It relies on understanding mechanisms of action and quantifying tradeoffs. It uses economics, statistics, queueing theory, and concepts from telecommunication network design. This workshop provides an overview of the key ideas in the bestselling book, The Principles of Product Development Flow: Second Generation Lean Product Development. If you want to obtain quick impact from lean methods you must understand these ideas.

Workshop Topics
This workshop will provide a one-day overview of the key ideas in the book, The Principles of Product Development Flow. It will focus on some the practical considerations for using the ideas in the book.

1. Using an Economic Framework
The key to making rational decisions in product development is to express all effects on schedule, quality, and cost in economic terms. We do this with an economic model. With it, we can quantify the Cost of Delay with sufficient accuracy to make faster and better decisions.

2. Managing Queues
Many developers still view product development deterministically, assuming that any excess capacity is waste. In reality, development processes need excess capacity to function optimally in the presence of necessary variability. By looking at product development through the perspective of Queueing Theory we can get many insights on how to manage it better.

3. Understanding Variability
For product developers one of the most dangerous ideas of Lean Manufacturing is that we can always optimize economics by reducing variability. In product development variability is a necessary companion of innovation, so we must create development processes that perform well in the presence of variability. Option Pricing Theory gives us a new perspective on the role of variability in product development.

4. Reducing Batch Size
One of the best methods to reduce cycle time in product development is batch size reduction. However, many companies still use cumbersome phased gate processes with very large batch sizes. We’ll use the Economic Lot Size Formula to understand the economic tradeoffs associated with reducing batch size in product development.

5. Applying WIP Constraints
Queues can still form in processes with small batch sizes due to the accumulation of random variances. One of the most practical methods for controlling such queues is the use of WIP Constraints. Such constraints require setting control limits and deciding what to do when the limit is breached. The most advanced examples of WIP Constraints are found in Telecommunications Networks, not in manufacturing processes.

6. Using Cadence
Cadence can be used to smooth and synchronize flows in a product development process. It is a powerful way to prevent variances from being coupled between processes. Unfortunately, most product developers still control their processes with scheduled deliverables rather than a time-based cadence.

7. Synchronization and Sequencing
Synchronization can offer a means to prevent the accumulation of variance and to gain scale economies without using large batch sizes. With advanced sequencing strategies like Weighted Shortest Job First (WSJF) we can reduce the cost of queues without changing the size of queues.

8. Using Fast Feedback
Fast feedback loops create spectacular opportunities to smooth flow and attain quality levels that far exceed those of processes that try to “do it right the first time.” This is one of the essential features of the Lean Start Up approach that is spreading rapidly in product development. We’ll look at the underlying economics that make this work.

9. Decentralizing Control
Fast responses to an uncertain environment require decentralized control. However, decentralized control can lead to misalignment. We’ll look at advanced methods that the military uses to achieve aligned decentralized control.